Citation

Abstract

This eighteenth Orange County Annual Survey, UCI, continues to monitor social, economic and political trends. The Orange County Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 111, which is the highest score since the survey began tracking this five-question measure in 1986. The Orange County score surpasses the U.S. index, which is at 105. The 1999 survey is conducted September 1-13, and includes random telephone interviews with 1,000 Orange County adults in English and Spanish.Online data analysis & additional documentation in Link below.

Methods

The 1999 Orange County Annual Survey was directed by Mark Baldassare, professor and Roger W. and Janice M. Johnson Chair in Civic Governance and
Public Management at UCI, and Senior Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Cheryl Katz, research associate, was co-director. The random telephone survey included interviews with 1,000 Orange County adult residents conducted September 1 to September 13, 1999. We follow the methods used in the 17 previous surveys. Interviewing was conducted on weekend days and weekday nights, using a computer-generated random sample of telephone numbers. Within a household, adult respondents were randomly chosen for interview. Each interview took an average of 20 minutes to complete. The interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish as needed. The completion rate was 65%. Telephone interviewing was conducted by Interviewing Services of America in Van Nuys, CA. The sample's demographic characteristics were comparable to data from the U.S. Census, California Department of Finance, and previous Orange County Annual Surveys.The sampling error for this survey is +/3% at the 95% confidence level.
This means that 95 times out of 100, the results will be within 3 percentage points of what they would be if all adults in Orange County were interviewed. The sampling error for any subgroup would be larger. Sampling error is just one type of error to which surveys are subject. Results may also be affected by factors such as question wording, ordering, and survey timing.Throughout the report, we refer to two geographic regions. North refers to cities and communities north of the 55 Freeway, including Anaheim, Orange,
Villa Park, La Habra, Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, Placentia, Yorba Linda,
La Palma, Cypress, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Seal Beach, Westminster, Midway
City, Stanton, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Garden Grove,
Tustin, Tustin Foothills and Costa Mesa. South refers to cities and communities south of the 55 Freeway, including Newport Beach, Irvine, Lake
Forest, Newport Coast, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna
Woods, Mission Viejo, Portola Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Foothill
Ranch, Coto de Caza, Trabuco, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente,
Capistrano Beach and San Juan Capistrano. In the analysis of questions on the proposed El Toro airport, we include Newport Beach in the North
County. Some of the questions in this survey are repeated from national surveys conducted by the University of Michigan, the Pew Research Center and the
American Association of Retired Persons. Questions with state comparisons are repeated from the Public Policy Institute of California's Statewide
Surveys, directed by Mark Baldassare.